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 Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 7:49 pm
Maia gave it a smile as the machine counted down. Huh. Clever thing, this. She waited for the second picture. She was amused at Toby's expression.
The screen gave them a moment to reposition themselves before starting to count down again.
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 7:55 pm
Now Toby turned and just pleasantly smiled at Maia until his periphery told him that the photo was about to snap, then leaned in and kissed her cheek. Dari leaned away slightly, grinning, and thus was the second photo.
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 9:09 pm
Maia hadn't expected the kiss, cheeks going red. She turned immediately and waited for the screen to start counting down, and kissed his cheek in return. One more picture, it seemed.
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 5:31 pm
Toby grinned, the eye closest to Maia closing, and put a hand on her cheek. Dari just laughed.
Come the time for the final photo, though, he lunged over both of them, enveloping them in a particularly long-armed hug. Toby laughed at the odd proportions and leaned into the hug.
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 5:45 pm
Dari's stolen hug earned him a proper one after they were done with the pictures and were out of the photo booth. Maia hugged him and grinned, this time reaching for Toby's hand. "Lets go play some games," She suggested. "We should come get more pictures later."
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 5:56 pm
Toby retrieved the photos from the printer outside the booth; there were two of them, one for Maia and one for him and Dari since they'd shared the same house so long. He tucked them both into his pocket, though. It wouldn't do to have anyone see Dari's blackened teeth or hyper-extended arms. No real harm could be done, of course, but he liked to avoid it either way.
"Sure, if you want," Toby agreed, "I got one for you too." He let Maia take his hand and lead him away, and Dari happily followed. Look at the two of them! They were almost like a couple already... but what would it take to convince Toby to let go and try?
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 6:02 pm
Maia smiled. "I can make us a scrapbook of all our adventures. I've got some pictures on my phone..." But how was she supposed to get them off it? Maybe she'd invest in a proper camera.
"The star shooting game first, right?" she asked, looking for it. Hmm...
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 6:07 pm
"Sure, if you want to," Toby agreed and then went about searching for it himself.
It was Dari who spotted it first and pointed toward it. "There it is."
It was the one booth where there were only four or five prizes hanging up high and all of them were as large as a toddler and twice as thick. There was a white mouse with a pink die in its paws, a blue gorilla, a giant robot, and a stuffed zombie. The game itself, though, seemed to just consist of guns at short-range.
"Hey! You boys looking to play?!" the carnie shouted. Toby smiled, although he was mildly annoyed.
"Yes, please." He forked over the money for two guns and the carnie clipped two pieces of paper with a red star on them down a pulley. "The idea is to shoot out the star completely. No red left or no prize for you."
Both men held the pellet guns like real rifles, aiming down bent sights, and began to fire in short bursts around the outside of the red star.
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 6:16 pm
Maia took a step back in order to observe both her friends play the game. Carnies had obnoxious voices, she decided, despite only having encountered the one. And they were loud. Maybe it was in the job description.
She smiled and watched. The game closest to them was a pop the balloon game, that looked interesting. Oooh, a fish game! And a live-goldfish game. She'd avoid that one. Fish didn't belong in tanks.
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 6:23 pm
It wasn't long before the cards were reeled back and the partners watched on expectantly for the carnie to flip back all the bent bits and show they'd both lost miserably. Toby gave a defeated "AUGH, REALLY?!" with the very tip of the point of one star remained on the paper. It was the carnie to face surprise when he checked Dari's card, though, and the alien smiled smugly as he tapped Maia on the shoulder.
"Pick one," he said, gesturing to the large and admittedly shoddily-made prizes hanging above them.
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 6:32 pm
Maia looked up at the prizes, hm. They didn't look high quality, but they were large, and Dari had won one! She selected the white mouse. "That one," she said, before moving to hug the alien. "Thank you!"
She looked to Toby. "Can we find one I can try?" she asked. "I want to win you something."
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2015 10:57 am
Dari's card was pinned up in a row with the other winners, probably to give prospective players some hope that the game wasn't impossible. Who knew how long they had been collecting those winning tickets, though? Months? Years?
The carnie waited then for Maia to make her choice and brought the mouse down with a big hook at the end of a pole. He untied its neck-rope and offered it out to the selkie.
"Uh, yeah!" Toby replied, turning around to look at the rows of games. He thought Maia might like to win a goldfish, but they'd have to leave right after, so not now. How about heaving darts at balloons? "What about that one?" He pointed.
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2015 11:03 am
Maia took the mouse. Hm, it wasn't especially cuddly, was it? Sort of stiff. She'd have to put it in a corner in her room. She gave Dari another smile.
"Let's go!" she beamed, leading Toby to the game he pointed out. Balloon popping, hm? "How do you play?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2015 11:23 am
Toby walked with Maia to the booth and Dari followed after.
"You throw the darts and try to pop a balloon. It's the least-rigged game here, although they under-inflate the balloons for a chance for the darts to bounce off." All of this said in full range of the broad, beefy, and now moderately annoyed-looking carnie standing behind the counter. Toby shelled out the money for five darts and stepped aside, gesturing for Maia to try.
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2015 11:33 am
The least rigged game, huh? Maia was intrigued. "Play with me," she invited Toby. She took two darts, looking to the annoyed looking carnie. Were carnival games always rigged?
She offered Toby three darts, throwing her darts one at a time. One balloon popped, the other bouncing off.
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